Delhi Dynamos’ Eduardo looking forward to Qatar 2022

Delhi Dynamos players and officials pose for a picture with Barcelona and Spain legend Xavi during their training session at Aspire Academy in Doha on Thursday.

By Armstrong Vas | The Peninsula

Delhi Dynamos Spanish defender Eduardo Montoya is confident that FIFA 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be a spectacular showpiece event and he is eagerly looking forward to it.

“Qatar is witnessing amazing growth and, in 2022, Doha will be a great place to visit for the World Cup. I’m very glad to see a country with a different culture such as Qatar host the World Cup. Football is for all, not only for Europe or for America, and people will enjoy their time here,” Eduardo said.

The 36-year-old defender, who plays in the Indian Super League (ISL) for the North India club, was in Doha for the two-week pre-season training camp of Delhi Dynamos at Aspire Academy.

“It’s good to come to Doha after our first training camp in Spain to be exposed to different environments and weather conditions.”

The Indian club is preparing for season four of the ISL starting in mid-November. The training camp in Doha comes only a few months after Aspire Academy and the Delhi Dynamos FC signed a technical partnership that will see the world-renowned Academy share its football knowhow and management expertise with the club to help Delhi Dynamos achieve success on the pitch.

During the training camp, Delhi Dynamos FC played friendlies against QNB Stars League teams: Muaither S.C, Al Wakrah SC and the military team.

Delhi Dynamos FC head coach Miguel Portugal said: “The Academy provides a lot of resources and expertise to help the young footballers from India who come here to train so that, one day, they can transfer the knowledge they learn here back into Indian football and help the sport develop over the long term.”

Young Albino Gomes, who was selected to be the goalkeeper for the India U23 side taking part in the 2017 AFC U23 qualifiers, praised Aspire Academy’s facilities and said the training camp provided the team with access to world-class pitches and facilities that aren’t always available in India.

Looking ahead to this upcoming ISL season, Gomes said: “Our training in Aspire Academy follows a two-week training camp in León, Spain. We’re quite pleased with our preparations and we look forward to the start of the fourth ISL season.”

Spanish and Barcelona great Xavi Hernandez showed up for Delhi Dynamos FC’s last training session.